MORNING MESSAGE: John Cline
Genesis 19
Reader: Atta Twum
I don’t want to be rude, and I don’t want to be sued, so I won’t name any living famous Hollywood movie stars or fabulously rich people or politicians whose children – on no merit of their own – have achieved a certain amount of fame or have been given access to opportunities or money or power simply based on their last name or heritage. However, consider the over 200 living relatives of the 19th century British Queen Victoria, people who still receive perks based simply on their relation to her, perks that they have not merited on their own. Well, today, we are going to look in the Bible at Lot, a person who rode to greatness on the coattails of his righteous Uncle Abe rather than on anything Lot himself did. For example, we saw last Sunday that Lot escaped the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah only because he was Abraham’s nephew. Nothing in the Bible describes Lot as deserving of that or any of the other blessings from God that he received. In several chapters in Genesis, we read about Lot’s life. First, in Genesis 11 we read that Abraham, his wife Sarai, his father Terah, and his nephew Lot left their homeland in Ur of the Chaldeans to move to Canaan. Along the way they stopped in Harran.
Project map of Abraham’s travels (from December 15th sermon) https://bible-history.com/maps/abrahams-journeys
In Genesis 12, we read the reason for that family’s move: God had promised the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants, and that would have included Lot. In Harran, Abraham and Lot had both become fabulously wealthy, with Abraham alone acquiring over 200 servants to work for him, while Lot, riding on Abraham’s coattails, likewise gained many servants. So, to Canaan they went, Abraham, Sarai, and Lot, travelling as far as Egypt before heading back to Canaan, first stopping in the Negev region way in the south, and then proceeding further north to Bethel in central Canaan. In chapter 13, we read…
So, Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord. Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. So, Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” (Genesis 13:1-9)
Project map which shows Bethel and Ai https://www.biblecartoons.co.uk/maps/map-of-southern-israel-showing-sodom-and-gomorrah
Notice that Uncle Abraham stopped at a spot somewhere between Bethel and Ai. There, he built an altar to the Lord and called on Him. We don’t read that Lot did any similar thing. He was not righteous like his Uncle Abraham. At that spot, Abraham offered Lot his choice of location. Wherever Lot chose he and his herdsmen could go and settle in. Abraham would go elsewhere. And so, we read of Lot’s decision:
Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So, Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord. (Genesis 13:10-13)
Clearly, Abraham was shafted in Lot’s choosing of the fertile Jordan River Valley. Abraham agreed, though, and settled in the mountainous region of Canaan. That Lot would choose to live in the river valley, near Sodom, and later move into that city, when “the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord” doesn’t say a lot that is good about his character. Going on to chapter 14, the city of Sodom was defeated in a war and Lot was captured and taken away as a prisoner of war, to be a slave to the conquerors. Uncle Abe and his 200 plus servants rescued Lot, giving him another chance to do the right things. This was an opportunity from the Lord that should have jarred Lot into ridding himself of his ingratitude and lifestyle. But Lot did not rethink his life. Instead, he moved back to Sodom, a city that he had become wealthy and powerful in. In chapter 19, Lot’s elevated spot in the city’s pantheon of leaders is seen in that he “sat” in the gateway of the city, a place reserved only for that city’s richest and most powerful citizens. Lot was warned by two angels who he had taken as guests into his house about the coming destruction of Sodom. In response to his visitors wanting to rape his visitors, 2 Peter 2 reveals that he had one brief righteous moment. Peter 2 states that Lot was “a righteous man, who was distressed and tormented by the depraved conduct of the lawless, by what he saw and heard” but that gracious description of him applied only to his one righteous act of rescuing the angels, a deed he did most likely only because the angels were his guests. Lot’s selfish, sinful true self then immediately was seen in that he offered to the sexually lusting men of Sodom his two daughters. “You can do what you like with them”, Lot told the men of Sodom. In effect, he showed himself to be no better than the lustful men of Sodom. I doubt that the two daughters were thrilled with dear ol’ dad.
The angels told Lot to flee from the city before it was destroyed but Lot was hesitant to do so, no doubt because he was unwilling to lose all that he had accumulated. Eventually, he agreed, though, and the two angels led Lot, his wife, and their two daughters out. The angels told Lot to flee to the mountains, but Lot, again showing his misplaced self-confidence, argued against that and was allowed to go to a small town named Zoar. If my city was about to be destroyed and angels told me to go to a certain spot, I wouldn’t argue!
By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus, he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:23-26)
Poor Lot’s wife. We don’t even know her name but what a family life she endured and what an awful ending to her life (though, in some ways, I suppose, it was almost fitting in a tragic way that she should die in such a horrible manner, considering what she lived through). In the early part of the 20th century in Siberia was a cosmological event that archaeologists and scientists point to as a possible explanation of what happened to Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other “cities of the plain”. What happened in Siberia was an asteroid or meteor disintegrated as it entered the earth’s atmosphere, eventually exploding over a 2,150 square kilometer area, flattening trees everywhere, leaving ashes, and causing other damage as its burning sulphur and fire poured down upon the land. Sounds eerily similar!
Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. (Genesis 19:27,28)
Now, pay attention to this next verse for, in it, we will hear the reason
Lot was saved from the destruction of the place he had chosen to live.
So, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived. (Genesis 19:29)
Lot was spared death only because God “remembered Abraham”. Lot rode on Abraham’s coattails his entire life but we don’t read anywhere that he acknowledged that blessing. Perhaps, he was so self-centered that he didn’t recognize that reality. Continuing on, though, we read,
Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. (Genesis 19:30)
Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar and so he moved to a mountainous area and took up dwelling in a cave. Such a comedown for a wealthy, powerful man! We all naturally assume that Lot headed west back to mountains of Canaan and to the land where his Uncle Abraham lived, and which had been promised to Abraham and his kin. But it seems that Lot didn’t do so, instead going east to the mountains of modern-day Jordan. We will see why it seems that he went there when we read what happened next in Lot’s life as he lived in his cave.
One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.” That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” (Genesis 19:31-34)
“Lot was able to take his daughters out of Sodom, but he was not able to take Sodom out of his daughters”, one commentator wisely observed. No matter how we look at it, the daughter’s actions were disturbing. But their family was messed up, anyway, thanks to Lot.
So, they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again, he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. So, both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today. (Genesis 19:35-38)
Here is a map, which indicates why it is believed Lot’s cave was east.
Locations of Moab and Ammon https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/bsba420602600l-map-of-Ammon-Moab-and-Edom.jpg
Now, to conclude. What can we glean or learn from a story such as Lot’s? These kind of disturbing narratives in Genesis were not recorded just to give us history but a theological history to learn from.
First lesson to learn: selfish, sinful decisions can lead to immediate disaster, fear, delusion, and isolation. We have just seen that truth.
Second lesson to learn: one’s sinful actions don’t have only immediate negative consequences but can also have long-term ones. Lot’s sons Moab and Ben-Ammi became the fathers of nations, Moab and Ammon, which brought Israel ongoing grief for centuries. Their territories became a constant battleground for the Israelites, both militarily and spiritually. For example, Moab’s king would later hire the false prophet Balaam who successfully counselled Moabites to weaken the nation of Israel by having Moabite women seduce Israelite men (as described in Numbers 25). As for Ammon, its people worshiped a god named “Molech”, a god whose worshippers would reek much havoc upon the nation of Israel, as the Israelites adopted Molech’s demanded practice of sacrificing their children by hurling them into a raging fire. That practice was denounced by Israel’s God, YHWH, but the Israelites didn’t care, and, as a result of not turning back to God, their nation was destroyed in 721 B.C. by Assyria.
Third lesson to learn (and this is a positive one): God never gives up on people. His love, forgiveness, and grace can overturn any sin. Terrible actions and the turning of one’s back on God, does not lead Him to reject any person forever, if the person repents of their sin and turns back to Him. YHWH God is always at work, lovingly trying to convince people to return to Him. We are never too far away from God for Him to act, redeeming and restoring us. Heck, He even used Lot’s family line in the redeeming of His people and in His eventual sending of His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us all from the effects of our sins. This happened in that a future relative of Lot, a young woman from Moab, a lady named Ruth, would eventually be the one through whom God would work to redeem and restore His people. As Ruth declared that God would be her God, she was brought to Israel from Moab to marry an Israelite man, have a child who was named Obed, whose son was Jesse, and whose grandson was David. Jewish scholars assert that when David wrote his life was steeped in sin and that he was “conceived in sin” is because, unlike his older brothers whose mother is named, David’s unnamed mother was a Moabitess, the result of a sinful indiscretion, an affair between his father and his mother. Thus, David’s life is another example of how God can overcome sin in that he would become the king of Israel and it would be through his family line that the promised Messiah, Jesus, would come. God is always at work to redeem our pasts. God delights to turn sinful, selfish actions into righteousness and salvation. Paraphrasing a writer named Geoff Thomas, we can thus say, “Through the umbilical cord that attached Jesus to Mary, the line of our Lord goes back through Ruth to a cave in isolated mountains and to the drunken man Lot and his scheming, immoral daughters, who were all related to the righteous one with whom God made a covenant, Lot’s uncle, Abraham.” Lot may have selfishly ridden on Abraham’s coattails, but God used his life-story to bring blessing to the world. Amen.
